Elias's face suddenly shifted into a plethora of emotions. He was first shocked, confused and then finally, in utter disbelief.

The implications of what he had just heard were so beyond his imagination that he even entertained the thought of the conversation being nothing but a lucid dream.

He thought back to his journey from Lytton to Estica, trying to recall any specific details that might have pointed to any form of distance distortion. Though try as he may he couldn't pinpoint anything that seemed to be amiss about his trip, which served to further enhance his fear about the overall situation.

The fact that he was oblivious to such an alarming detail, treating his journey as a regular sea trip was so fearful and alarming.

Sophia took note of Elias's stomped expression, twirling a quill in between her fingers while regarding him sarcastically, "This seems to have come as a huge shock to you huh?"

Elias took a few moments to respond, before scrambling to regain his composure.

"Y-yes, I guess you could say so. At no point in time did I notice anything amiss with the distance on my way here? It's quite the shock."

Sophia listened to him with an unreadable expression, before abruptly stretching in her seat and moving to pick up her frames. After putting them on she turned back to Elias, looking a lot more like a civil worker than before.

"Well, that's exactly what is unique about this Oddity. Unless you have prior knowledge of its existence, its unique qualities make it almost impossible to detect, even for Apostolic Priests and Bishops.

"Though it doesn't appear to be completely undetectable, as some sudden coincidences on sea can cause its influence to be a bit noticeable."

'Coincidences huh? Now that I think about it, our ship did meet with an unexpected coincidence on our way to the island. Could that be it?’

Thinking back to the entire trip, Elias suddenly recalled their unexpected run-in with the Sea Reaver Pirate gang, a situation which should not have normally happened. Due to the Sea Bandit gang under Captain Barak being inactive in the Naric Sea route of Wessex and Estica, the chances of his ship having a random run-in with them should have been all but naught.

Not only had they run into them, but they also narrowly avoided a direct altercation, a situation that vastly deviated from the norm.

'Upon reflection, the attitude that was shown by the Sea Bandits upon sighting us seemed quite stiff and confusing. They immediately trailed their canons on us upon contact, possibly due to the sudden shock and surprise that came as a result of the unexpected contact.

'That would also explain why they opted to leave instead of attacking after a light warning, as Sea Bandits are usually known for their extremity when it comes to carrying out preplanned ship heists. Hmm... It all seems to check out now.'

Elias continued to contemplate in silence, taking the opportunity to analyze the entirety of his previously 'normal' oceanic trip.

'A trip that is normally supposed to take a week was shortened to only 6 hours. How magical.'

He was still a bit shaken by the existence of a distance anomaly but was a lot more open to accepting the shocking fact due to his numerous experiences upon arriving at the academy.

Sophia didn't opt to interrupt Elias's inner musings but instead continued to sip on her drink while penning her ledger.

It took Elias almost 5 whole minutes to conclude his contemplation, before turning towards Sophia once again.

"Sorry for being a bother Senior, but is there anything known about its origin and how it ended up in the Naric Sea? I'm also curious as to the reason why the five churches and various kingdoms haven't done anything to control or even retrieve it. Is there something I'm not getting?"

Sophia listened to Elias while simultaneously filling her ledger, before sighing helplessly and setting her quil back into its ink bottle.

She felt like her usually peaceful mornings had become quite troublesome and filled with questions, obviously honestly not being a fan of it.

Sophia would have honestly preferred to just ignore Elias's inquiries all together but couldn't fully bring herself to do so, vastly due to his respectful tone and the fact that they were fellow employees.

In the end, she decided to take the initiative and make the conversation fast and short, lest her leisure morning be further interrupted.

"Well, the background of the Displacement Map is a tale popularly known within the academy and was even used as major inspiration for a lot of local plays and dramas in multiple different district theatres.

"It is alleged that during the initial stages of the Mahlon Conflict, an offensive fleet from the Berlin Navy launched a secret and strategical attack on the port city of Lytton, which was at the time the Kingdom of Wessex's most important ocean base.

"They were able to bypass the kingdom's sea borders defense, moving directly into the inner region by utilizing the space warping Oddity that was in control of the fleet's commanding officer."

Sophia took a moment to draw the last sip of her drink, her face covered by a light frown as she turned towards Elias once again.

"That Oddity was what we now know today as the Displacement Map."

Sophia spent quite a bit of time updating Elias on the public obscured history, speaking in a pacy but orderly tone that made it easy for her listener to follow up and understand what she was saying.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Apparently, the Berlin Navy came up with the daring plan to infiltrate the Wessex oceanic border with a hit-and-run tactic, utilizing the space-distorting properties of the Displacement Map to swiftly come in, attack and then leave before the marine corps of Wessex would have a chance to react.

This would have been an ingenious plan if it was carried out successfully but alas in the dire periods of war, nothing ever goes as planned.

It was later revealed that a member of the incoming fleet was an informant planted into the Berlin Navy by their opponents, which led to them falling into a coyly placed trap, causing the entire fleet to face instant annihilation.

The Displacement Map apparently sunk to the bottom of the sea with the main ship's remains, leading to the current predicament in the Naric Sea route.

Elias listened to all this attentively, relishing the sensation of being immersed in the scenes of the past.

Sophia concluded her narration with an exhausted face, before reaching for the now empty cup on her desk.

She flinched when she noticed it was empty, sighing dejectedly and turning back to the junior beside her.

"That's all there is to know for it's back story. Now as for why it hasn't been reclaimed y-"

"It is most likely due to the space-distorting attribute of the Oddity, leading to vast inaccuracy in locating its position by all parties involved. I'm sure the map instinctually distorts the distance between itself and its immediate surroundings, leading to it being lost at sea for all these years."

Elias abruptly cut off Sophia mid-way, offering his own speculations and interpretation of the situation.

Instead of being offended at being cut off Sophia silently listened, offering Elias a nod once he concluded.

"That's exactly it. It is said that the object continuously distorts it's own location, making sure to never remain in one position for too long. This continuous display which has gone on now for almost 100 years has caused its influence to passively affect the entire Naric Sea bed, leading us to our present situation."

Elias offered his senior a curt nod, indicating that he understood.

Sophia was more than happy to end the conversation here, as she was already exhausted from all of the talking. She then silently waved Elias away, before focusing back on her work.

Elias respectfully offered her a bow in genuine gratitude, before making his way out of her desk and out of the archives.

He also made sure to stealthily beckon Lars from his secluded corner before taking his leave.

A look of realization suddenly flashed across his tired eyes, causing him to stop at the door and turn back to the busy Sophia.

"Senior what about the Professor? She hasn't checked in since the day of my employment, which was more than a week ago. I hope she is okay?"

Sophia didn't bother raising her head, opting only to wave Elias away dismissively as if he were worrying for nothing.

She seemed to be used to this type of situation from Elias's perspective, which calmed his nerves and allowed him to leave to get ready for his day.

Sophia paused a bit to look towards the now closed door, before shrugging her shoulders and resuming with her morning tasks.

After all, who knows, Professor Doherty might be on a vacation enjoying herself, which was definitely the type of thing she would do. It is pointless to worry about that type of carefree and unpredictable person.

Sophia had worked for her long enough to realize that.

...

In an unknown and fairly secluded location that seemed barricaded off from the rest of the world, the time of the morning sun had arrived yet no semblance of light appeared behind the dark and gloomy clouds overhead.

The bizarre and unsettling atmosphere on the island made it seem like it was lacking even a single element of life, causing it to appear as an abandoned landmass rather than a lush grove.

The sound of chirping crickets and singing birds was fairly absent, further enforcing the chilling aura that permeated the surroundings.

And within this island of silence housed a single, lone explorer.

Professor Doherty was currently standing in front of a huge door of stone, tinkering with an abacus-like equipment with beads of sweat rolling down her face.

She had now lost her usual coquettish and lazy expression, with her now immersed in a mood of urgency and seriousness.

She frantically moved the bead-like balls on the abacus from side to side, experiencing failure time and time again.

She was just about to give up when she tried the final series of combinations, which surprisingly caused the stone door to slowly swing open, bringing with it a rain of rocks and dust.

Professor Doherty moved urgently to cover her hair with a scarf, allowing her to avoid being covered by the dust.

She scoffed in annoyance at the unexpected ordeal, before grabbing the map at her side and making her way into the now-open stone chamber.

She had spent about 3-4 days making her way to the unknown location and an extra 4 days navigating her way through the island's dense maze-like structure. Not only did it take her almost 5 hours to get the stone door to open, but she almost got herself covered in dust, further worsening her mood.

The exhausted Rochelle didn't understand why her predecessor made the process of retrieving the items he left behind so difficult, feeling that she would have liked to have a few words with him if he was still alive.

She cautiously made her way deeper into the chamber by following the marks on the map she had in hand, all the while surveying her surroundings with heightened vigilance and caution.

It took her an entire half hour to get to the point marked on the parchment, which was the location of an old worn-down reading table with a couple of books and manuscripts stacked neatly in its center.

Professor Doherty instantly lost her previous tension, excitedly making her way to the table like an excited little girl to a toy.

She picked up a book from the laid out pile, patting it down as her eyes revealed an obvious, ecstatic gleam,

"Found it."

...

In the small ash-covered town settlement deep within the Ash Highlands, the sounds of pained huffs and groans sounded out from a dimly lit house, causing the wee hours of the morning to seem all but bright.

Gregory was standing in front of a broken square mirror, observing his reflected figure with reddened pained eyes.

It seemed he was yet to fully recover from the previous ordeal with Sister Marie, as the small soul-eating insects had left him with quite a bit of spirit damage.

His body was also riddled with bloody bandages, a testament to him trying to patch himself up from all the physical injuries she inflicted onto him. The pain was something he had not yet gotten used to, causing him to let out periodic agony.

He continued to stare into his reflected image in the broken mirror, where the silent addition of a second silhouette seemed to grasp his attention.

The blurry figure in the mirror regarded Gregory with a curt bow, before speaking in an even and gentle tone.

"Is it done?"

Gregory somehow managed to convey a nod through his pain, causing the unknown speaker to offer him a merry clap, seemingly to communicate his immense satisfaction. "Excellent, Mr. Gregory. I promise to uphold my end of the bargain and issue for the Immediate release of your spouse so..."

He calmly offered the pained Gregory a bow in formality, placing his hands onto his chest.

"I say thank you on behalf of the Heterodox Order."

Gregory's bloodshot and malice-filled eyes softened upon the mention of his wife's release, before abruptly noticing that something was wrong.

His previously clouded vision was rapidly getting more blurry, as he also felt a warm trickle emerge from above his lips.

He put his finger to his nose and withdrew it, witnessing his hands being stained in a deep shade of red.

He turned to look towards the blurry figure in the mirror in shock and confusion, before observing his immediate vacation from the scene.

It didn't take long for Gregory to understand what had just happened—he was being silenced.

The blood pouring out of his nose increased in quantity, additionally leaking from his eyes and ears while also turning metallic black with time.

He lost every feeling in his muscles and joints, causing him to lose his footing and topple over from the pain.

Before his body lost its last breath of life he pulled together every single ounce of strength he could muster, before shouting in a resentful voice,

"Curse you, Sebastian!!!"